22/11/2010

Medical Telephone Interpreter Service

South Africa Pilots a Medical Telephone Interpreter Service South Africa has long been a continental leader in the professionalization of community interpreting. Unlike many countries, where interpreting growth is fueled primarily by immigration, in South Africa indigenous languages are a driving force. South Africa has 11 official languages and sees a growing number of immigrants from countries across Africa and Europe. The nation's language access initiatives are among the most progressive in the world. (For the South Africa language bill of 2000, click here.) Specifically, the Constitution of South Africa in Chapter 1 Section 6(5)(a) states that:

"A Pan South African Language Board established by national legislation must- (a) promote, and create conditions for, the development and use of-

(i) all official languages;

(ii) the Khoi, Nama and San languages; and

(iii) sign language;"

In addition, Sections 29, 30 and 31 of the Constitution state that everyone has the right to receive education in the language of their choice, to use the language of their choice and to participate in the cultural life of their choice.

To address language needs in health care, Folio Translation in Cape Town has launched a pilot telephone service at four hospitals and one clinic. The goal of the pilot is to determine which languages are needed most in healthcare in the Western Cape and how well telephone interpreting works at the five facilities. Once the pilot is complete, the service will work with other provinces and eventually take on the whole country's state facilities. Folio is also collaborating with organizations in the Netherlands and the USA.

Interpreters have received basic training. However, a large number of calls involve HIV or HIV medications. The toll these calls take on interpreters is huge: interpreters often have to break the news to the patient that he/she is HIV positive, which is so stressful that the interpreters need debriefing. Soon the interpreters will also be working with South Africa EMS (emergency response services through ambulances), and then interpreter debriefing sessions will become mandatory.

Here are a few words from Marli Viljoen, Project Manager for the service. I plan to spend a lot of time on sourcing interpreters in even more languages, and creating/finding education opportunities for them. What excites me about medical (community) interpreting in SA is that we get to promote the use of all our indigenous languages, and create opportunities for language practitioners. I'm hoping that we could, in time, establish the Folio Academy, where we can train young interpreters/translators/language practitioners in medical interpreting, conference interpreting, legal interpreting, etc. Of course, we'd need a lot of help from our experienced colleagues overseas, but I've found everyone that's been in contact with me so very helpful and supportive.

When Marli attends the International Medical Interpreter Association conference next year, let's be sure to greet her!